Burning Palms (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Brett Cullum likes to watch Los Angeles people freak out in disgust.

The Charge

Five stories that will mess you up 4 life.

The Case

Burning Palms is an anthology made up of five short films that hinge
on some twisted black humor premise. It revels in purposefully trying to go just
a little bit too far. There are a few through lines for each installment: all of
them take place in Los Angeles, they always feature Shannon Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210) as a psychologist in
at least one scene, and they are all introduced by comic book panels that make
them appear as if they came from an old episode of Tales From the Crypt. I suppose
another connecting thread would be that all of them deal with a twisted person
or situation that comes off as slightly repugnant by the end of the story if not
sooner. It's like a real life creepy EC comic just played out in California
rather than some supernatural fictional place. It's proof positive that
California sucks souls right out of people.

The five chapters include:

The Green Eyed Monster Rosamund Pike (Surrogates) portrays the girlfriend of
Dylan McDermott (The Practice) who becomes extremely concerned when she
sees how unnaturally close he is to his daughter.

This Little PiggyJamie Chung (Sucker Punch) is a woman who comes
completely unraveled when she fulfills her boyfriend's kinky request.

Buyer's RemorseAnson Mount (Crossroads) and Peter Macdissi (The Losers) reveal what happens when a gay
couple adopt an African orphan with disturbing habits.

ManeaterZoe Saldana (Avatar) transforms into a lonely woman
who tries to date her rapist played by Nick Stahl (Sin City).

The Blu-ray has a great transfer, but the picture level is decidedly indie
film. Colors are very accurate and the detail level is quite good. Sometimes the
whole thing appears washed out, but that seems to be a stylistic choice rather
than anything to do with authoring the image. The surround sound is right on
track as well. It's not a Blu-ray that stands out as remarkable, but the word
competent comes to mind easily. There are no extras either, so I imagine whether
you find this in high def or on DVD will make little difference in the long
run.

If you can get over a daughter and father having a wildly inappropriate
relationship, a woman being going nuts after being conned in to doing something
sexual that disturbs her, a gay couple mistreating a child, a child mistreating
a maid, and a victim trying to get it on with her rapist, then this film might
be for you. It has repugnant premises, some pretty good acting, and enough style
to sort of work. Director Christopher Landon was known for his short-lived TV
series Dirty Sexy Money, so you can imagine this feature film is close to
that project in spirit but without any network censors. He seems to relish the
free rein, and he finds a way to humiliate his characters at every turn. It
takes a special audience to relish this sort of thing, but perhaps you know who
you are.

The Verdict

Guilty of being black in its humor, and downright gross in its heart. Burn,
baby, burn!